Till Death Do Us Part
by WindWisp
Summary: Riku can't figure out why everyone is acting so weird. Sora gets a new video game. Wonderful summary, huh? Warnings: slight language and a little bit of blood. No character death. Clouku.


** Hi there! It's me again! This time I'm posting a one-shot, but I should warn you that it's nine pages long in Microsoft Word. Single spaced. Feel free to read it in two parts (You'll see a double line where there's a break.) I just didn't have the heart to split it up.  
Yay Clouku!  
Oh, and I hereby disclaim all Kingdom Hearts names, plots, etc. Basically anything that's copyrighted isn't mine.**

'Till Death Do Us Part'

"Hey guys."

Riku walked into the room, only to find himself caught up in a desperate and surprisingly needy kiss. He felt a little better when he regained his senses and noticed Cloud's blonde hair, but still – when had Cloud ever been needy? After a few moments, Cloud pulled away and rested his head in Riku's neck, shaking and breathing heavily. As for Riku, he was being held tighter than a Victorian woman in a corset.

Completely at a loss, Riku raised his eyes to find Leon, Yuffie, and Cid, all of whom were staring at him as if he had just broken out of a grave.

Riku looked down at the now slightly calmer Cloud.

"Umm… are you okay?"

Cloud's only response was to kiss Riku even deeper, hands roving in his hair and down his back, seeming for all intensive purposes as if he were trying to make the younger boy a part of himself. This time when Cloud pulled back, he stared desperately into Riku's eyes, cupping his face like one would hold porcelain.

It wasn't until Riku noticed the tears running down Cloud's face that his confusion turned to deep concern.

"What is it, love? What's going on?"

Cloud could only shake his head, pulling Riku to him gently and stroking his hair.

Riku turned his head towards the others, hoping to find some sort of clue in their eyes as to what was happening, but they had all taken a sudden interest in the cracks in the walls.

"Guys?"

Leon spoke.

"I think we need to talk."

He made a motion to pull Riku aside, assumedly to talk to him alone, but before he could come near, Cloud threw him a glare that could have frozen fire. He accompanied said glare with a slight growl, and once again tightened his grip on Riku.

"You keep away from him," he growled.

The statement was full of loathing, and Riku used the distraction free himself, gaze darting between the two (formerly?) best friends.

"Okay, now someone really needs to tell me what's going on," he breathed, lungs still trying to recover from their earlier abuse.

The room was silent, and Cloud's glare was now rotating between the three who had been shocked into eye contact, and now couldn't look away.

"Umm…" Yuffie started. "Did you happen to be anywhere near the restoration site today?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well… we sort of…" By this time, Yuffie had sidled her way behind Cid, and was prodding him in the back, trying to make him finish for her as she had lost her courage.

Cid gave in.

"Well, kid, we thought you were dead."

Apparently easing into the explanation wasn't an option.

"What?!"

If Riku could have squeaked, that probably would have come out ear-splittingly high-pitched and feminine. However, Riku didn't squeak, so it was more of a strangled approximation of what should have been a shout.

Man, those cracked stones were fascinating.

"…"

"…"

The doors crashed open as Sora burst in, sparking a collective jump among the others.

"Guys! Come quick! You just _have_ to see this!"

Completely oblivious to the mood in the room, Sora grabbed the nearest bodies, which happened to be Leon and Riku, and dragged them out the door by their arms. Normally, he wouldn't have been able to accomplish such a feat, but the two were so taken aback that they didn't even try to resist.

It soon became clear that their destination was Ansem's study. The group hacked their way subconsciously through whatever Heartless were stupid enough to approach five trained warriors and a very curmudgeonly old man.

More as a result of their breakneck pace than the actual fighting part, everyone was breathing heavily when they had finally maneuvered through the castle ruins.

"Tron! Wake up! Let's do it again!"

He turned to his friends, who were now looking at him with various levels of curiosity and frustration.

"I showed Tron Jiminy's journals, and he made it into a video game! Look!"

Sora picked up a small, flat controller with lots of buttons, and the giant computer screen flashed from black to a vivid picture of Sora at Merlin's house, with Cid at the computer and Aerith off to the side.

Cid's eyes widened.

"What…?! How the….?! What is that (string of profanities) thing?"

"It's a video game," Sora chuckled. "See? There are virtual versions of us on the screen, and when I press these buttons, I can make myself move around or swing the keyblade or cast magic, and if I want to talk to one of you guys, I just walk up and press this," he pointed to a button. "And then you can say things to me! They're all preset, though – Tron said it would be too much work to have to move everyone around at the same time, as well as say original things, so he just went with what he knew about your personalities and created phrases to match the situation!"

As if to prove his point, the Sora onscreen (who had left Merlin's house) found Leon and walked up to him. The virtual Leon was leaning against a wall with his eyes closed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Sora pushed a button, and a speech bubble appeared on the screen: "…"

Yuffie burst out into laughter, Riku was hiding his laugh behind his hand, and even Cid and Cloud were smirking.

Leon was not amused, and was currently glaring at 'himself' on the screen.

"Whoops," said Sora, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I guess that wasn't the best example."

Between laughs, Yuffie managed to wheeze out, "No! (gasp) That was … perfect! (gasp) He's really… got Squally (gasp) nailed!"

Leon's glare now had a new target.

At this moment, Sora's brain sparked internally, and his face broke out into a huge grin.

"_Oh, just wait! That's not all this thing can do!_"

His shot was loud enough to get the attention of everyone in the room, and even Tron seemed to flinch, the screen image flickering.

"This is the best part!

"Tron! Do that thing you did before with that one thing and the sensor on this thing!"

Nothing happened.

Sora looked baffled for a moment, but his neurons exploded once more, and he spun around to face the screen and began madly pushing on a control stick, causing 'Sora' to dash through the streets of Hollow Bastion. Everyone was so engrossed by the graphics and the accuracy of the layout that it took them a moment to realize that 'Sora' had stopped in Ansem's study. The real Sora then turned around and smirked, confusing the rest of the crowd.

Then came "Holy shit!"

Riku had turned around to see what Sora was looking at, only to come face-to-face with another Sora. Who was standing uncomfortably close, if Riku might add.

Sora moved the control stick again, and his doppelganger walked over to the computer to stand next to him.

"Isn't this great?! It's like the game is actually happening! Oh, wait…" Sora's face scrunched up for a moment before he shook the expression free and began demonstrating how he could control this life-sized projection with the buttons and joystick. First he did a high jump, followed by a dodge roll, and then pulled out the keyblade and started hacking away at his real self.

"Heehee… See? It doesn't hurt 'cause it's not real.

"And it doesn't have to be in here, either! Look, I'll show you!"

With that, he and himself walked side by side out of the study, overlapping each other every once in a while to go through tight doorways and passages. He was followed by a procession of his friends, so entranced that he might as well have been controlling them, too.

Cloud and Leon, at least, snapped out of it when they saw a pack of Dusks creeping toward them. They charged in sync, and tripped in sync when their swords sliced through nothing but air. Fake Sora, however, was chopping away at the Dusks with bloodthirsty abandon. Cloud interrupted the real Sora's crazed cackling with a very loud question.

"How the hell are we supposed to tell which ones are real and which aren't?!"

"Umm… they only show up in the area where the character is, so I guess just attack them all and if they aren't real then I'll take care of them?" Sora's answer was far from satisfactory, and Cloud just huffed and stomped back to Riku, who massaged both his neck and his wounded dignity.

"Ooh! Ooh! There's something else I have to show you!" Sora exclaimed.

"Tron, do that awesome switchy thingy!" he yelled into what everyone assumed was a transmitter attached to the controller. Although Cid hadn't yet ruled out that the boy had gone completely bonkers.

A few seconds later, one of the Soras faded from sight. When nothing else happened, Sora looked confused and mashed a couple of buttons on the controller. After yet another brain spark, he very carefully pressed a sequence of three buttons, and an image of Riku appeared right where 'Sora' had been.

This time Cloud jumped, glancing over at Riku to make sure he was still there. Apparently he still hadn't quite gotten over that whole death thing.

"See?" he said, turning to Riku. "I can also control _you_!"

Riku looked up at Cloud.

"That's severely frightening."

Cloud nodded in agreement, returning his eyes to the projection of his lover that was now slashing away at Sora. Yeah, that kid definitely had problems.

After studying the image for a few seconds, he looked back at the real Riku and smirked.

"I don't know, though. That fake Riku's pretty hot. And maneuverable. Maybe I'm with the wrong one."

Riku, who had dealt with enough replicas to last a lifetime, punched Cloud in the arm.

"Come on!" announced Sora, who had apparently had his fill of hacking himself to pieces. "I'll show you where I am in the game now!"

As they walked, Sora explained the basics of the game, and the group nodded politely, Leon clasping his hand over Yuffie's mouth when she tried to mention that everyone already knew the basics, not to mention the entire plot.

"The plot is different for me and Riku, but me and Tron don't know any details on what you did exactly, and kidnapping princesses for an evil witch is kind of depressing and would make you the antagonist to my storyline. So I just had Tron make one up for you! ... No offense or anything…" Sora finished with an awkward laugh when he noticed the death glares he was receiving from a certain couple.

As they left the Postern, Sora tensed, and moments later, the group was surrounded by Heartless. Everyone except Sora took out their weapons, and Cid had one hand curled into a fist, the other holding his cigarette lighter. As soon as they appeared, though, they faded and were replaced by Dusks.

Great. Now they were surrounded by Dusks.

Or they would have been, if the creatures hadn't all slunk toward the opposite side of the restoration site, merging into a dark mass.

"Shit," remarked Cloud. Apparently he could see something the rest of them could not, although in a few seconds, mako wasn't necessary."

There he was, gliding towards them at a leisurely pace: Zexion.

Riku repeated Cloud's earlier profanity, adding on eloquently, "Wh-wha?! How did he..? I thought –"

He was interrupted, however, by Sora, who shouted, "Wait! Just help me, will 'ya? Didn't you kill this dude already? I've tried five times, and I still haven't been able to get past him!"

Sora's incredulous stare was met by a confused and slightly frightened one from his best friend.

"E…excuse me?"

"I told you! This level in the game is impossible to get past!"

Apparently they had missed the cut-scene, because Sora freaked out and pressed a button, causing everything – Zexion, Dusks and all – to freeze in place.

"Wait," said Yuffie. "This was all part of the game?"

"Yeah! I haven't been able to beat this guy, and apparently none of my very real fighter friends who are _right here_ want to help me. Come on! You beat him in real life, didn't you, Riku? How'd you do it?"

Recovering from the shock, Cid replied for him.

"Well it sure as hell wasn't with a box of buttons! What good is fightin' Nobodies when you can't even touch the damn things?"

"Okay, fine," said Sora. "I'll just try again on my own. But don't distract me!"

The battle resumed, and Riku found it particularly strange to be watching himself fight a battle that had never actually happened. Tron had done a wonderful job of reproducing his moves, though, even if the technique in which they were being used was nothing short of sloppy. No wonder Sora hadn't won yet.

Still, he was rather enjoying being able to observe himself from a distance, and was looking forward to seeing himself actually kill Zexion. Even if Sora was making him look like an untrained klutz. He didn't start cursing Sora until the character was actually beaten by Zexion, and Riku had to watch the lifeblood seep out of his body, creating a pool that was quickly coloring his entire body red. The image lingered for a while, and a short little elegy played as the words 'GAME OVER' materialized from the still growing puddle of blood.

Everyone was stunned to silence except for Sora, who threw the controller to the ground, followed by his own body. From that viewpoint, he could see what he supposed shock would look like upside-down, and a pale Riku clinging to an even paler Cloud. The latter looked on the verge between being sick and crying.

"Oh. Sorry guys," Sora murmured as he sat up. "We're still working on the details. I asked Tron to make it less gory, but apparently he hasn't gotten around to it yet. He's also going to put Donald and Goofy in my side of – "

"Can you replay those last few seconds?" interrupted Leon. "Not the fight, just the finishing move and everything after that."

Everyone looked at him, mouths agape.

It seemed Cid was the only one who still had the ability to speak.

"Holy shit, son. I never thought of you as the morbid type."

Leon didn't answer, but kept staring Sora down until the boy caved.

"…Umm…I'd have to do the fight again…"

Leon's stare still didn't falter, and Sora glanced at Riku. The boy had buried his face in Cloud's neck, so Sora figured it was okay to try again as long as it was on mute. After all, it was just a game, and Sora'd seen it himself every time he'd been defeated by Zexion. Which had happened a lot.

So Sora adjusted the volume and fast-forwarded through the cutscene (convenient, right? if only…) to the fight, watching Riku's motionless form, HP dwindling without resistance. Cloud had closed his eyes, but Cid and Yuffie both cringed at the graphic depiction.

Leon stood silent for a minute, and then said out loud, "Did that seem familiar to anyone?"

Ignoring the disgusted glances he was getting from all sides, Leon just kept staring at the spot where 'Riku' had disappeared.

"Leon, you're scaring me," Yuffie squeaked. "I want Squally back. Let's just go, okay?"

Instead, Leon shot her a sharp glance.

"You didn't recognize that?"

Yuffie shook her head, frightened, and Leon turned the question over to Cid, who failed to come up with an answer, as well.

"Riku. Dying. In the Restoration Area. The fight. The blood."

Crickets.

"It's almost the exact same scene we saw this morning."

More crickets.

Just as Leon opened his mouth to say something else, realization struck. Yuffie and Cid's eyes widened, the ninja covering her mouth with her hands.

"You mean," she choked, "that when we saw Riku die, it was – "

"A game," Cloud finished for her, voice icy. "You were seeing a virtual game."

For the first time in what seemed like ages, Cloud separated himself from Riku, stalking over to where Sora was still sitting on the ground. Said boy had no idea what was happening, only that, from the look he was receiving, it seemed that he was about to die at the hands of Cloud Strife.

When Cloud reached Sora, he knelt slowly down to his level and hissed "Give me that."

The only thing Sora had at the moment was the game controller, so he willingly sacrificed it to Cloud, hoping that his own life might be spared.

The man stood up just as slowly as he had knelt, turned from the onlookers, and suddenly heaved the controller as hard as he could against a not-so-distant rock wall. It hardly needs to be said that, given Cloud's strength, all that remained intact was a rubber button in the shape of a triangle.

Cloud then spun on his heel and stormed out toward the Bailey, followed a few moments later by a concerned Riku.

Sora looked through the wreckage and salvaged the little rubber button, cradling it in his hand and whispering to it, "I'm sorry little save button. I'm glad you were spared. I'll protect you this time."

At this maudlin display of concern for a triangle, Leon decided he needed to have a word or two with Tron. Yuffie sat down gingerly next to Sora, trying to console him.

"You were doing really well at that game. I bet you would have beaten Zexion in a few more tries if we hadn't been here to distract you."

Sora looked even sadder at this, so Yuffie changed tactics.

"Look, Cloud's just a big meanie, and he has more mood swings than every woman in this world put together. The game is still stored on the computer, so all you need is a new controller, right?"

Sora jumped up at this, smiling that silly grin of his.

"Yeah! Tron can make me a new one!"

He hugged Yuffie, then ran off toward Ansem's study. Yuffie was hot on his heels shouting, "So I get a turn at the game, right? It's only fair! And I want to see what other stuff Squally says!"

As the voices faded into the distance, Cid was left all alone, chuckling to himself. Deciding that Ansem's study was going to be a war zone between Leon and the two hyper ones, and that going the other way would put him in the path of Gods-know-what romantic crap, he sat against the wall and put that cigarette lighter to good use. Scaring off the Heartless, of course.

Riku finally caught up with Cloud at the Bailey, and had propped himself up against the wall, waiting for the man to regain control. At the moment, Cloud had finally stopped pacing, and had settled for punching the wall. After a minute or two of this, Cloud's energy was completely spent, his knuckles covered in blood. And although he was still livid, breaking his hand, in addition to the wall, was not an option.

Riku watched Cloud as his punches got weaker and weaker, and the man finally collapsed onto his knees, using the wall to support his forehead.

Stepping as lightly as he could, Riku walked over and sat next to Cloud, running his hand over the man's back, feeling in his taut muscles the anger that still boiled just beneath the surface.

With Cloud like this, Riku knew there was nothing he could say to calm him down, and any attempt to rationalize the situation would just end up with vehement resistance. Riku didn't feel like losing an arm, so he decided to wait a while before trying to convince Cloud that what had happened was really no one's fault.

All the boy could do was try to massage away some of the tension, hoping that Cloud wouldn't just walk away to take his anger out somewhere else.

A few minutes (hours?) passed, and Cloud finally uncovered his eyes and lifted his head. He could feel Riku watching him, but still couldn't meet his gaze, choosing instead to stare blankly at the bloody wall. Why was he always such a wreck when it came to the boy? He was surprised that Riku had even put up with him for as long as he had – if Cloud hadn't been in the way, Riku could have any man he wanted. Not some brooding idiot who would get this upset over a game, who would completely ignore him in favor of punching a wall. No, Riku deserved better.

With that thought in mind, Cloud stood up, dislodging Riku's hand, and began walking back to the town proper.

Riku was having none of that, and grabbed Cloud's wrist, fully prepared to have to run after him again, but the man stopped at the slightest touch, eyes downcast, silent.

Tired of being ignored, Riku walked around to face Cloud, but when he lifted the man's chin to look into his eyes, he found them closed. The boy found that he couldn't take any more of this; the sight of his lover in such pain was killing him inside. There had to be something else upsetting him; he was still angry about the game, but didn't most of that anger come from being worried about Riku? So why wouldn't he meet his eyes? What else could be wrong? Had he decided that Riku wasn't worth all of the emotional strain he was putting him through? Or maybe he just wanted to vent alone, and Riku was being a nuisance. If so, Riku found that he didn't care, and threw his arms around the man's neck, burying his face in the nook beneath Cloud's chin. If Cloud wanted to push him away, he could, and Riku would have to convince himself not to follow.

It was almost worse when Cloud simply stood there and didn't hug him back.

Feeling confused, lost, and rejected, Riku couldn't help the few tears that escaped his eyes. And once he had started crying, he found that he had lost the ability to stop.

Cloud, on the other hand, was completely torn. Riku was obviously just holding on to him because he felt that it was obligatory. It would be kinder of Cloud just to walk away and give Riku back his freedom. But when the boy hugged him, it took all of his willpower not to kiss him right then and there. He was being selfish. If he truly loved Riku, he should want him to be happy no matter what, right? Then why did it hurt so much when he felt Riku begin to cry against his shoulder?

Wait – Riku was crying?

Cloud pulled away, holding him at shoulder's length, but this time it was Riku who wouldn't meet _his_ eyes.

"I'm sorry."

Okay, now Cloud was hearing things. As if there weren't enough things wrong with him.

Not able to bear seeing the tears that he had caused on Riku's face, he wiped them away, whispering a pathetic "I'm so sorry" before releasing his grip on the boy's shoulder.

Riku gave a faint, hollow chuckle.

"You're not allowed to copy me; _you_ haven't done anything wrong."

Cloud couldn't believe what he was hearing, but he had watched Riku's lips move to the flow of words.

There was silence for a while, as Cloud's mind tried to piece things out.

Riku, who had decided that the silence meant his suspicions were correct, turned to leave when Cloud grabbed his wrist. Okay, now Cloud had to be mocking him. It wasn't funny.

"Just stop it!" he choked out, tearing his hand away. "Stop toying with me! If you don't want me around, I'll leave. But teasing me by prolonging the process is just cruel. Make up your damn mid, already, will you? Do you want me here or not?!"

A strong hand cupped his chin, forcing him to look up into clear, blue eyes. For once, Riku was glad that Cloud was so good at hiding his emotions, because seeing the rejection would only make it worse.

"What did you just say?" Cloud whispered.

"Please don't make me say it again." Why wouldn't those damn tears stop falling?

He then found himself crushed against a warm body, strong arms not allowing any space between them.

"Gods, Riku. I would never try to hurt you. But you deserve to be with someone better, and I was just trying to convince myself to let you go. But I can't – I'm not strong enough to push you away, even if it's for your own good. I'm just too damn selfish. But if you leave, I'll understand."

Riku looked up, and Cloud released him.

"Wait… that's what you were worried about? You thought I wanted to leave you?"

"You should."

"Cloud."

The man lifted his eyes to meet Riku's, only to find that, through the tears, the boy was actually smiling.

"Don't ever scare me like that again."

Cloud was completely nonplussed.

"Wait… what?"

"I love you, you idiot," Riku chuckled. "I came up here an hour ago waiting for you to calm down, but when you did, you wouldn't even look me in the eye. You seriously thought I would leave you?"

Cloud's silence spoke volumes.

"You really are an idiot," Riku laughed before pulling Cloud down for a kiss.

If Cloud had any question left in his mind about Riku's feelings, it was quickly erased. Cloud lost himself in the kiss, allowing all his worries to fall away.

Riku pulled away far too soon, a slight smirk on his face.

"You remember how you kissed me when you thought I'd come back from the grave?"

Cloud narrowed his eyes; it was still far too soon for jokes, in his opinion. He nodded anyway.

"Well, let's just say I was too confused at the time to enjoy it properly, and I'd like to have the opportunity to reciprocate."

Cloud returned the smirk.

"I think I might be able to arrange that."

With no further warning, Cloud claimed Riku's mouth, and although it took Riku a moment to regain his bearings after he'd been backed up to the wall, he certainly made good on his promise.

After about an hour or so, Cloud had Riku pinned down to the Bailey floor, and was enjoying the feeling of Riku's soft hands against his bare chest, and eagerly returning the favor.

"Hell, you two still not done yet?"

Riku jumped at the intrusion of Cid's rough voice, but Cloud just sighed, untangling his hands from soft, silver hair. He should have known better than to expect privacy in the Bailey. Particularly since it was the only way back to the town from the Restoration Site where they'd left everyone.

Riku was still on the ground, so Cloud helped him up just as, surprise surprise, the other three in their party brought their cacophony into the Bailey with them. Leon got there first, silent, and merely rolled his eyes. The noise had built to an almost unbearable level when Yuffie and Sora came prancing in. As soon as they saw the couple, they ran over, all smiles, squealing something about that damned video game. From what Riku gathered, Tron had added Donald and Goofy, who were programmed to fight with Sora, and there was some sort of tournament that he added. Apparently Yuffie, Cloud, and 'Squally' were available opponents. Oh, and they had decided to cut Riku's part in the game, as it was either going to be completely inaccurate, or simply heart-crushingly depressing. Riku was actually somewhat relieved, as he had been considering just what else Tron had gotten wrong with his story.

Sora and Yuffie were so excited at the prospect of making more games that the jumping and screaming only ended when Sora glomped Riku, knocking him down and landing on top of him.

"Whoops… Sorry, Riku. I guess I got a little carried away. Wait, where's your shirt?"

Even the stoic Leon laughed at that, leaving Sora and Yuffie to stare at each other, wondering what was so funny.

**Well, my friends – there you have it! A very long one-shot of complete randomness. No one in this story is very perceptive, huh? Anyway, I just moved into my dorm, so I have no idea when I'll be posting again.  
**

**Much love,**

**WindWisp**

**P.S. Reviewing is good for your health!**


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